How Does Steel Compare to Other Building Materials?

Whether you’re a business owner or private citizen looking to place an additional structure on your property, the decision about what materials to use is not an easy one. The more customisation is required on the building dimensions, the more selective you must become to satisfy all the needs of the property.

Here we examine different materials and how each choice affects the level of customisation available to you as the buyer.

Wooden Buildings

There are some huge buildings made from different species of wood, but they aren’t necessarily the most practical. Sure, the classic garden shed or even a conservatory added to the back of your home are often made from wood, but these structures are a limited size and not many valuable items will be stored inside them. With wood structures, there is a greater risk of structural damage during a storm, possible leakage and the door locking mechanism is usually just a simple padlock.

With customisation, you’ll be picking between a few sheds of different sizes and colours. The inside of the shed is typically bare and they don’t usually let a lot of natural light in. Heating them is also a problem, as is keeping the damp out as the seasons change. The lack of customisation options often prevents wood from being a primary material for building structures intended either for long-term use or commercial purposes.

Plastic or Vinyl Buildings

The use of prefab composite materials in various forms is seen as a useful alternative to wood (wood is one of the most replaced materials). The structure and cladding isn’t likely to impress much with its durability and strength. There’s also a cheapness to its appearance in some cases which makes using this type of material for a building used primarily for business a bit problematic.

There are steel building kits for composite building structures. However, these focus more towards home use for sheds and other minimal use purposes rather than commercial use. There are some buildings that could be turned into workman shops and other practical uses, but there are often limited choices available to pick what size and shape of building is required or what materials are used. With the more expensive plastic or composite buildings, they use steel frames for strength and rigidity even when the rest of the structure doesn’t use this better material which is quite telling for buyers.

Steel Buildings

A steel building is designed with strong walls created as building blocks. There are usually several different types of sidings available to vary the properties and appearance of the interior and exterior of the building. The roof is angled to let water run off with the pitch being customisable to the requirements of the buyer. Different types of guttering are often available to catch rain water and let it drain away discretely.

Best of all, the size of a prefab steel building is entirely customisable. The customer chooses the length and width of the building to match the internal space required. Depending on the building provider, the height may also be customised either by selection or through the selectable angle of the roof providing more clearance. It’s easy to get an online quote for steel buildings which SteelBuildings.co.uk provide free of charge to determine the real cost of purchasing a custom building to your required dimensions with the essential features needed.

Steel buildings for sale come in kits of different sizes based on your specifics. For wood or plastic composite structures, more often than not you’re stuck with a fixed range of building sizes and must pick between this restrictive list. When it comes to customisation, especially for business use, steel buildings win hands down.